Stereophile November 2015
"I set up the Parasound JC 1s in the system while I was auditioning contenders for this issue's "Recording of the Month," the live Hommage à Eberhard Weber taking the honors. I hadn't heard the JC 1s for a long time, but listening to this CD reminded me that I'd agreed with Michael Fremer's verdict: the JC 1 was "lightning-fast, delivering transients and sibilants with a speed and clarity that were positively addictive," and a "bottom end that was equally impressive and subtly drawn." With Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto 2, Dejan Lazic's piano sounded slightly more incisive and the sub bass grumblings in James Blake's "Limit to Your Love" sounded more subterranean with the Parasounds, with a slightly better sense of pitch definition than the Arcam or the Pass Labs."

HomeTheaterReview.com, December 2009
When Parasound announced it was releasing a line of products with legendary designer John Curl under the moniker Halo, the press release alone was spank material. At the top of the product line sat the JC1 monaural amplifier, named after the man responsible for bringing it into existence, John Curl. The JC1, when it was released, ranked among the most coveted pieces of audio gear in history and remains on that list to this day. However, unlike most coveted pieces of audiophilia, the JC1 was hugely affordable at $6,000 per pair, which meant that many audiophiles could actually own a piece of audio history, as opposed to just reading about it.

Stereophile, October 2004
Class A Recommended Component - "...the sound wasn't strained in any way, and there was an overall sense of ease. Dynamic ease. Listening ease. Just ease." "Tonally, the Parasounds were magnificent... with no trace of solid state hardness."

Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity, August 2004
"The bass on the JC 1s is state of the art, riveting, jaw dropping." "Listening to the Parasound Halo JC 1 monoblocks is a thrilling experience. I could go on for days praising their bass slam, transparency, immediacy, and brilliance." "In three words: they are fabulous." - Jason Victor Serinus

HiFi News (UK), January 2004
"...incredibly effortless and natural." "This amplifier certainly held me captivated and entertained, drawing me into the music." "If you want to lose yourself in the music, there are precious few components as good as the JC 1." - David Allcock

Stereophile, December 2003
Sam's Product of the Year "Before you blow $10k-$20k or more on some amps that were recommended by a reviewer who didn't buy them, give a listen to the Parasounds, which this reviewer did purchase." "Don't buy an amp without hearing these, even if you can't afford them." - Sam Tellig

EnjoytheMusic.com, November 2003
"Beautiful Brutes." "The JC 1s rank with the best amplifiers I have heard in recreating a multideminsional sound field." "They pump out seemingly effortless power no matter how insanely loud I push them, with never any sense of strain such as you hear when an amplifier is running out of gas." "The JC 1s are also capable of wondrous delicacy, and the kind of transparency that makes you feel that you're hearing every instrument, every voice, but never at the expense of the musical whole." "To be able to buy these robust, delicate, emotionally involving, brilliantly conceived and executed music recreators for $6,000 seems to me little short of a miracle." - Wayne Donnelly

Positive Feedback, August 2003
"...Parasound's Halo JC 1 amplifier, is among the most precisely nuanced amplifiers I know, able to draw the slightest and most delicate of musical expressions, to make the subtlest distinctions. It can also rock you, like your back ain't got no bone, 'cuz it's a brute. It is the amp for all seasons." "It has the ability to produce a believable facsimile of spaciousness, that 3-D sound-staging that makes the illusion of space between the instruments nearly tangible; the ability to produce timbral, harmonic, and dynamic accuracy that results in what we call 'inner detail'; the ability to produce delicate refined purity of tone one moment, and then bowl you over with A BIG WALL OF SOUND the next." "...these amps are truly outstanding, among the best I've ever heard, and the best I've had in my system." - Max Dudious

The Absolute Sound, June 2003
"...I was impressed with the remarkable speed, clarity, transparency, and focus of these amps straight out of the box." "The high frequencies were to-die-for silky smooth, crystal clear, and abundantly detailed. The kind you could listen to all day long without fatigue." "There wasn't anything that didn't sound great on the JC 1." "I was left with an ear-to-ear grin on my face that lasted the rest of the week." - Sue Kraft

Fidelity (Norway), May 2003

Stereophile, April 2003
Class A Recommended Component - "...ultra-wide bandwidth, high-current capability, low, low noise, a high S/N ratio, and a fast slew rate, among many other indicators of outstanding amplifier performance." "There was an honesty to the overall tonal and harmonic presentation that transcended technological stereotypes." "The Halo JC 1 is not only the best amplifier to come from Parasound, it ranks up there with the best high-end heavyweights." "Rocks for sure."

Stereophile, February 2003
"It took but a few seconds for me to absolutely fall in love with the Halo JC 1." "Powerful, refined, smooth, organized, dynamic, transparent, and rhythmically supple, the JC 1 offered a combination of attributes that added up to many weeks of listening pleasure. I'd be happy to have it go on indefinitely - as, no doubt, will many of you." - Michael Fremer